White-winged Chough
Encyclopedia
The White-winged Chough (Corcorax melanorhamphos) is one of only two surviving members of the Australian mud-nest builders family, Corcoracidae
, and is the only member of the genus
Corcorax. It is native to Southern and Eastern Australia
and is an example of convergent evolution
as it is only distantly related to the European chough
s that it closely resembles in shape, and for which it was named.
in 1817 as Coracia melanorhamphos, other names given include Pyrrhocorax leucopterus by Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck
in 1820, and Corcorax australis by French naturalist René-Primevère Lesson
in 1830. before the current name was settled by Gregory Mathews
in 1912. The specific epithet is derived from the Ancient Greek
words melano- 'black' and rhamphos 'beak'.
It is placed in the family known as the mud-nest builders or Corcoracidae, written as Grallinidae in older books before the removal of the genus Grallina
to the family Monarchidae. It is one of two remaining species, with the Apostlebird
(Struthidea cinerea), which differs in appearance but exhibits many behavioural similarities. The mudnest builder family Corcoracidae itself is now placed in a narrower 'Core corvine' group, which contains the crow
s and ravens, shrike
s, birds of paradise, fantail
s, monarch flycatchers, and drongo
s.
It is only distantly related to the European Chough
(Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax), and Alpine Chough
(P. graculus), which are members of the crow family Corvidae
. The similarities in appearance of dark plumage
and downturned bill
are the result of convergent evolution
.
and Little Raven
). The White-winged Chough is a large, black bird—at about 45 cm (18 in) only a little smaller than a raven or a little larger than an Australian Magpie
—but has red eyes and a finer, slightly down-curved beak
, similar to a European Chough. These red eyes become swollen and brighter in colour when the bird is excited. In flight the large white patches in the wings are immediately obvious, and explain the descriptive part of their common name.
Their calls consist primarily of a grating alarm call and a descending piping call. The latter call is diagnostic for the bird in the wild, being significantly different in timbre and melody to that of other birds sharing their habitat
.
Choughs are territorial and highly social, living in flocks of from about 4 up to about 20 birds, usually all the offspring of a single pair. Because raising of young is a group effort bands of chough may kidnap fledglings from other family groups so that they will be able to help them to raise their chicks next year.
in litter and rotten wood for termites and beetles. Although birds have eaten pieces of apple placed out for them on feeding tables, they have not been recorded eating fruit
on trees.
The diet is varied, the White-winged Chough eats seeds of various grass
es (Poaceae
), Gahnia grandis
, Atriplex
, Epacris
, Hibbertia
, Solanum
, Acacia
and Exocarpos
species, as well as introduced species such as the Cursed Thistle (Cirsium arvense
), Roadside thistle (C. vulgare
), Winter Honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima), Convulvulus and Oxalis
species. Berries of the introduced Cotoneaster
and Crataegus
are also consumed. It eats a wide variety of arthropods, including centipede
s, millipede
s and many types of insect—beetles, cockroaches, termite
s, grasshopper
s and cricket
s, flies, butterflies and moth
s, and ant
s, bee
s and wasp
s.
- a process that takes several years, as young birds must learn the art of finding food in the dry Australian bush. Larger families have a better chance of breeding success: so much so that given the opportunity choughs will kidnap the youngsters of neighboring families in order to recruit them to the team: the more helpers the better!
Breeding season is from August to December. The nest is a deep cup-shaped structure made of grass
es held together with mud or sometimes manure in a tree fork up to 10 metres above the ground. Three to five cream-coloured eggs
sparsely splotched with dark brown and lavender shades are laid measuring 30 mm x 40 mm.
There is one report of White-winged Choughs occupying and using a nest which was likely to have been built by the Australian Magpie
. However, this was unable to be confirmed as the nest was not witnessed being built.
All members of a family take turns to incubate, preen
, and feed youngsters, and all cooperate in defending the nest against predators. However, the juveniles, who are highly inefficient foragers, have been observed to engage in deception; they bring food back to the nest
and make to feed nestlings, but instead wait until unobserved, and then eat it themselves. This behaviour disappeared when food sources were artificially supplemented. There are three main threats to young choughs: starvation; predation by nest-robbing birds, particularly currawong
s; and sabotage by neighbouring chough families anxious to protect their food supply by restricting competition. Larger family groups are better able to deal with all three threats.
Corcoracidae
The Australian mudnesters are passerine family Struthideidae. The family is often commonly called Corcoracidae, however this is the junior synonym. It contains just two species in two genera, the White-winged Chough, Corcorax melanorhamphos, and the Apostlebird Struthidea cinerea...
, and is the only member of the genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Corcorax. It is native to Southern and Eastern Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and is an example of convergent evolution
Convergent evolution
Convergent evolution describes the acquisition of the same biological trait in unrelated lineages.The wing is a classic example of convergent evolution in action. Although their last common ancestor did not have wings, both birds and bats do, and are capable of powered flight. The wings are...
as it is only distantly related to the European chough
Chough
The Red-billed Chough or Chough , Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax, is a bird in the crow family; it is one of only two species in the genus Pyrrhocorax...
s that it closely resembles in shape, and for which it was named.
Taxonomy
The White-winged Chough was first described by French naturalist Louis Jean Pierre VieillotLouis Jean Pierre Vieillot
Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot was a French ornithologist.Vieillot described a large number of birds for the first time, especially those he encountered during the time he spent in the West Indies and North America, and 26 genera established by him are still in use...
in 1817 as Coracia melanorhamphos, other names given include Pyrrhocorax leucopterus by Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck
Coenraad Jacob Temminck
Coenraad Jacob Temminck was a Dutch aristocrat and zoologist.Temminck was the first director of the National Natural History Museum at Leiden from 1820 until his death. His Manuel d'ornithologie, ou Tableau systematique des oiseaux qui se trouvent en Europe was the standard work on European birds...
in 1820, and Corcorax australis by French naturalist René-Primevère Lesson
René-Primevère Lesson
René Primevère Lesson was a French surgeon, naturalist, ornithologist, and herpetologist.Lesson was born at Rochefort, and at the age of sixteen he entered the Naval Medical School there...
in 1830. before the current name was settled by Gregory Mathews
Gregory Mathews
Gregory Macalister Mathews CBE was an Australian amateur ornithologist.Mathews made his fortune in mining shares, and moved to England around 1900....
in 1912. The specific epithet is derived from the Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
words melano- 'black' and rhamphos 'beak'.
It is placed in the family known as the mud-nest builders or Corcoracidae, written as Grallinidae in older books before the removal of the genus Grallina
Grallina
Grallina is a genus composed of two species of passerine bird native to Australia and New Guinea. It is a member of a group of birds termed monarch flycatchers. This group is considered either as a subfamily Monarchinae, together with the fantails as part of the drongo family Dicruridae, or as a...
to the family Monarchidae. It is one of two remaining species, with the Apostlebird
Apostlebird
The Apostlebird , also known as the Grey Jumper, is a quick-moving, gray or black bird about 13 inches long. It is a native to Australia where it roams woodlands, eating insects and seeds at, or near, ground level...
(Struthidea cinerea), which differs in appearance but exhibits many behavioural similarities. The mudnest builder family Corcoracidae itself is now placed in a narrower 'Core corvine' group, which contains the crow
Crow
Crows form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Ranging in size from the relatively small pigeon-size jackdaws to the Common Raven of the Holarctic region and Thick-billed Raven of the highlands of Ethiopia, the 40 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents and several...
s and ravens, shrike
Shrike
Shrikes are passerine birds of the family Laniidae. The family is composed of thirty-one species in three genera. The family name, and that of the largest genus, Lanius, is derived from the Latin word for "butcher", and some shrikes were also known as "butcher birds" because of their feeding habits...
s, birds of paradise, fantail
Fantail
Fantails are small insectivorous birds of southern Asia and Australasia belonging to the genus Rhipidura in the family Rhipiduridae...
s, monarch flycatchers, and drongo
Drongo
The drongos are a family of small passerine birds of the Old World tropics, the Dicruridae. This family was sometimes much enlarged to include a number of largely Australasian groups, such as the Australasian fantails, monarchs and paradise flycatchers...
s.
It is only distantly related to the European Chough
Chough
The Red-billed Chough or Chough , Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax, is a bird in the crow family; it is one of only two species in the genus Pyrrhocorax...
(Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax), and Alpine Chough
Alpine Chough
The Alpine Chough , or Yellow-billed Chough, is a bird in the crow family, one of only two species in the genus Pyrrhocorax. Its two subspecies breed in high mountains from Spain east through southern Europe and North Africa to Central Asia, India and China, and it may nest at a higher altitude...
(P. graculus), which are members of the crow family Corvidae
Corvidae
Corvidae is a cosmopolitan family of oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, magpies, treepies, choughs and nutcrackers. The common English names used are corvids or the crow family , and there are over 120 species...
. The similarities in appearance of dark plumage
Plumage
Plumage refers both to the layer of feathers that cover a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage vary between species and subspecies and can also vary between different age classes, sexes, and season. Within species there can also be a...
and downturned bill
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
are the result of convergent evolution
Convergent evolution
Convergent evolution describes the acquisition of the same biological trait in unrelated lineages.The wing is a classic example of convergent evolution in action. Although their last common ancestor did not have wings, both birds and bats do, and are capable of powered flight. The wings are...
.
Description
White-winged Choughs are easily recognised but often mistaken for "crows"—a double mistake, as the birds most frequently called "crows" in Australia are actually ravens (see Australian RavenAustralian Raven
The Australian Raven is the largest Australian member of the genus Corvus and one of three Australian species commonly known as ravens. It is a more slender bird than the Common Raven of the Northern Hemisphere but is otherwise similar...
and Little Raven
Little Raven
The Little Raven is a species of the crow and raven family Corvidae, that is endemic to Australia. It has all-black plumage, beak and legs with a white iris, as do the other Corvus members in Australia and some species from the islands to the north.-Taxonomy:Although the Little Raven was first...
). The White-winged Chough is a large, black bird—at about 45 cm (18 in) only a little smaller than a raven or a little larger than an Australian Magpie
Australian Magpie
The Australian Magpie is a medium-sized black and white passerine bird native to Australia and southern New Guinea. A member of the Artamidae, it is closely related to the butcherbirds...
—but has red eyes and a finer, slightly down-curved beak
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
, similar to a European Chough. These red eyes become swollen and brighter in colour when the bird is excited. In flight the large white patches in the wings are immediately obvious, and explain the descriptive part of their common name.
Their calls consist primarily of a grating alarm call and a descending piping call. The latter call is diagnostic for the bird in the wild, being significantly different in timbre and melody to that of other birds sharing their habitat
Habitat
* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...
.
Behaviour
Flight is a mixture of a slow, deep flapping and short glides: unlike their European namesakes, White-winged Choughs are not particularly strong or agile fliers and spend the great majority of their time on the ground, foraging methodically through leaf litter for worms, insects, grain, and snails in a loose group, walking with a distinctive swagger, and calling softly to one another every few seconds. A rich find is the cause of general excitement and all come running in to share in it. The family group walks several kilometers each day through its large territory, foraging as it goes, taking to the air only if disturbed.Choughs are territorial and highly social, living in flocks of from about 4 up to about 20 birds, usually all the offspring of a single pair. Because raising of young is a group effort bands of chough may kidnap fledglings from other family groups so that they will be able to help them to raise their chicks next year.
Feeding
The White-winged Chough will forageForage
Forage is plant material eaten by grazing livestock.Historically the term forage has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used more loosely to include similar plants cut for fodder and carried to the animals, especially...
in litter and rotten wood for termites and beetles. Although birds have eaten pieces of apple placed out for them on feeding tables, they have not been recorded eating fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
on trees.
The diet is varied, the White-winged Chough eats seeds of various grass
Grass
Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...
es (Poaceae
Poaceae
The Poaceae is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of flowering plants. Members of this family are commonly called grasses, although the term "grass" is also applied to plants that are not in the Poaceae lineage, including the rushes and sedges...
), Gahnia grandis
Gahnia grandis
Gahnia grandis is a tussock forming perennial plant found in southeastern Australia and Tasmania.Originally described by botanist Jacques Labillardière as Scleria grandis in 1800, it was placed in its current genus by S. T. Blake in 1969....
, Atriplex
Atriplex
Atriplex is a plant genus of 100-200 species, known by the common names of saltbush and orache . The genus is quite variable and widely distributed. It includes many desert and seashore plants and halophytes, as well as plants of moist environments...
, Epacris
Epacris
Epacris is a genus of about 35-40 species of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae, though formerly often treated in a separate family Epacridaceae. The genus is native to eastern and southeastern Australia , New Caledonia and New Zealand...
, Hibbertia
Hibbertia
Hibbertia, or Guinea flower, is a genus of trees, shrubs, trailing shrubs and climbers of the family Dilleniaceae. The five-petalled flowers of all species are varying shades of yellow, with the exception of H. stellaris, H. miniata and H. selkii, a recently named species from the Stirling...
, Solanum
Solanum
Solanum, the nightshades, horsenettles and relatives, is a large and diverse genus of annual and perennial plants. They grow as forbs, vines, subshrubs, shrubs, and small trees, and often have attractive fruit and flowers. Many formerly independent genera like Lycopersicon or Cyphomandra are...
, Acacia
Acacia
Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not...
and Exocarpos
Exocarpos
Exocarpos is a genus of flowering shrubs and small trees in the sandalwood family, Santalaceae. They are found throughout Southeast Asia, Australia and the Pacific Islands....
species, as well as introduced species such as the Cursed Thistle (Cirsium arvense
Cirsium arvense
Cirsium arvense is a species of Cirsium, native throughout Europe and northern Asia, and widely introduced elsewhere. The standard English name in its native area is Creeping Thistle.-Alternate names:...
), Roadside thistle (C. vulgare
Cirsium vulgare
Cirsium vulgare is a species of the genus Cirsium, native throughout most of Europe , western Asia , and northwestern Africa...
), Winter Honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima), Convulvulus and Oxalis
Oxalis
Oxalis is by far the largest genus in the wood-sorrel family Oxalidaceae: of the approximately 900 known species in the Oxalidaceae, 800 belong here...
species. Berries of the introduced Cotoneaster
Cotoneaster
Cotoneaster is a genus of woody plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, native to the Palaearctic region , with a strong concentration of diversity in the genus in the mountains of southwestern China and the Himalayas...
and Crataegus
Crataegus
Crataegus , commonly called hawthorn or thornapple, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the rose family, Rosaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, Asia and North America. The name hawthorn was originally applied to the species native to northern Europe,...
are also consumed. It eats a wide variety of arthropods, including centipede
Centipede
Centipedes are arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda of the subphylum Myriapoda. They are elongated metameric animals with one pair of legs per body segment. Despite the name, centipedes can have a varying number of legs from under 20 to over 300. Centipedes have an odd number of pairs of...
s, millipede
Millipede
Millipedes are arthropods that have two pairs of legs per segment . Each segment that has two pairs of legs is a result of two single segments fused together as one...
s and many types of insect—beetles, cockroaches, termite
Termite
Termites are a group of eusocial insects that, until recently, were classified at the taxonomic rank of order Isoptera , but are now accepted as the epifamily Termitoidae, of the cockroach order Blattodea...
s, grasshopper
Grasshopper
The grasshopper is an insect of the suborder Caelifera in the order Orthoptera. To distinguish it from bush crickets or katydids, it is sometimes referred to as the short-horned grasshopper...
s and cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
s, flies, butterflies and moth
Moth
A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...
s, and ant
Ant
Ants are social insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than...
s, bee
Bee
Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, and are known for their role in pollination and for producing honey and beeswax. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila...
s and wasp
Wasp
The term wasp is typically defined as any insect of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita that is neither a bee nor an ant. Almost every pest insect species has at least one wasp species that preys upon it or parasitizes it, making wasps critically important in natural control of their...
s.
Breeding
Nesting and breeding is communal, all members of the family helping to raise the youngHelpers at the nest
Helpers at the nest is a term used in behavioural ecology and evolutionary biology to describe a social structure in which juveniles and sexually mature adolescents of either one or both sexes, remain in association with their parents and help them raise subsequent broods or litters, instead of...
- a process that takes several years, as young birds must learn the art of finding food in the dry Australian bush. Larger families have a better chance of breeding success: so much so that given the opportunity choughs will kidnap the youngsters of neighboring families in order to recruit them to the team: the more helpers the better!
Breeding season is from August to December. The nest is a deep cup-shaped structure made of grass
Grass
Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...
es held together with mud or sometimes manure in a tree fork up to 10 metres above the ground. Three to five cream-coloured eggs
Bird egg
Bird eggs are laid by females and incubated for a time that varies according to the species; a single young hatches from each egg. Average clutch sizes range from one to about 17...
sparsely splotched with dark brown and lavender shades are laid measuring 30 mm x 40 mm.
There is one report of White-winged Choughs occupying and using a nest which was likely to have been built by the Australian Magpie
Australian Magpie
The Australian Magpie is a medium-sized black and white passerine bird native to Australia and southern New Guinea. A member of the Artamidae, it is closely related to the butcherbirds...
. However, this was unable to be confirmed as the nest was not witnessed being built.
All members of a family take turns to incubate, preen
Preen
- Birds :*Preen, personal grooming of a bird's feathers especially by using its beak*Preen gland, also called the uropygial gland, an oil gland found in many bird species*Preen oil, an oil made by the uropygial gland found in many bird species...
, and feed youngsters, and all cooperate in defending the nest against predators. However, the juveniles, who are highly inefficient foragers, have been observed to engage in deception; they bring food back to the nest
Bird nest
A bird nest is the spot in which a bird lays and incubates its eggs and raises its young. Although the term popularly refers to a specific structure made by the bird itself—such as the grassy cup nest of the American Robin or Eurasian Blackbird, or the elaborately woven hanging nest of the...
and make to feed nestlings, but instead wait until unobserved, and then eat it themselves. This behaviour disappeared when food sources were artificially supplemented. There are three main threats to young choughs: starvation; predation by nest-robbing birds, particularly currawong
Currawong
Currawongs are three species of medium-sized passerine birds belonging to the genus Strepera in the family Artamidae native to Australasia. These are the Grey Currawong , Pied Currawong , and Black Currawong . The common name comes from the call of the familiar Pied Currawong of eastern Australia...
s; and sabotage by neighbouring chough families anxious to protect their food supply by restricting competition. Larger family groups are better able to deal with all three threats.
External links
- White-winged Chough videos, photos & sounds on the Internet Bird Collection